Monday, January 11, 2010

Here... thinking in my corner, I began to remember good things about being a waitress and the good things about working in a restaurant. But like everything ... has its pros and cons ... The Pros are more than cons, and I love to be working with customers and the hospitality industry ; that is the factor to be helpful or to please a guest. The Cons ... for me , everything is fine until we reached the tip ... this is just my opinion, I think that tipping is a kind of appreciation which the client gives to the waiter for having served satisfactorily. Consider the 15% ... is only a starting point, a bad service would be deducted on the way to zero if necessary, while the excellent service of high quality can be always higher.

To me good service should be rewarded and poor service should be punished. This always involves the Manager, Assistant Manager and Coach of the waiters, which is responsible to train them. But I always wondered: Why do you want to work in the service industry if you don't like to serve the guests? I really do not know. They are those who want to be waiters and complain when they have tables or do not want to attend and to top it complain that they don't receive the 15% tip or more. I really do not know, are people who can not provide excellent service and are always complaining ... It feels so good when you give a high quality service to your customer, and every time that they visit your workplace they will still ask you.

The 15% gratuity is and has become a sort of cultural tradition, that's not everybody follow, either because it's more money that has to leave to the restaurant or because they never worked in the service industry which can not recognize the work of a waiter to satisfying all your customer needs before serving. I always give the benefit of the doubt to the waiter, if food is not satisfactory or if it is, but their service is good, at least get 15%. Sometimes the waiter thinks, from their point of view: that a tip should be mandatory "But where would the service if this be so? Will miss the excellent service and high service if tipping is compulsory? It's a very difficult question to answer, because those who beneficial were the waiter and not the restaurant.

Finally, the most important thing to see and make me happy was always to see my client that always asking for me to serve them and it always made me feel great! The tip, while important, is the least confident thing that the waiter have to worry when the service is always excellent. As a waiter in the food & beverage industry , you always have to think positive, not for selling or sell them because it is most expensive on the menu, but always listen to your client. Please him always, because at the end , you are the one who's going receive a good reward ...

I would have to agree with your post and having had a background in service, I understand and notice even more. I do use 15% as a starting point, however when the service is truly great, even 20% is not a stopping point for me.

And one thing that I have noticed is that as a guest or customer, you really can tell the difference between somebody who is just there because it's a job, and somebody who really enjoys what they do!

I agree with you about good customer service. When my husband and I are at a restaurant and we have great customer service, we've known been known to tip $20. I'm a stickler for it. However, if your service is bad, I will not give you that but I will give you at least 3.00 because we could all use a helping hand sometimes. However, I know people who are downright rude and they'll leave a nasty message. I don't think it should go that far.

I am also a former waitress-turned writer. I understand exactly what you mean. I LOVED waitressing, loved the customers, loved the feeling when I knew I made them leave happy. I always thought of like this: sometimes going out to eat is very special for people. They may not have the money to do it often, so when they do get to go, I wanted them to enjoy it. Like you, I never understood the waiters and waitresses who did not like serving people. I hated working with them. Good blog! Thanks for following mine!